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In "Vagant", philosopher Alberto Toscano goes to the heart of today's fanaticisms; "Blätter" wonders where the rise and rise of a German Europe will lead; "Letras Libres" profiles Podemos; "Index" reveals how refugee stories are told; "La Revue nouvelle" slams the framing of the migrant as the ideal suspect; "A2" questions the scope of the Greek parliamentary revolt; in "Il Mulino", Nadia Urbinati sees right through the "Renzi sì, Renzi no" debate; and "Nova Istra" marks the long centenary of World War I. [ more ]

Eurozine Review

In "Vagant", philosopher Alberto Toscano goes to the heart of today's fanaticisms; "Blätter" wonders where the rise and rise of a German Europe will lead; "Letras Libres" profiles Podemos; "Index" reveals how refugee stories are told; "La Revue nouvelle" slams the framing of the migrant as the ideal suspect; "A2" questions the scope of the Greek parliamentary revolt; in "Il Mulino", Nadia Urbinati sees right through the "Renzi sì, Renzi no" debate; and "Nova Istra" marks the long centenary of World War I.

Sun'll be up soon. Balcony's filthy. Needs a clean. When we gonna do some sweepin' up round here? And what's the sun think it's doin', goin' up? Only just gone down. It was as hot as fuck. Now it'll start again. Just when it was okay to be alive for a while. Hour or so. Now, in the mornin'. It was dark and quiet. What the fuck.

Should I have a stretch?

If this ain't just a pile of shite. Is this what we were fightin' for? Yeh, the hell we were. With what? Fightin', I mean. With your prick, soldier boy, as the comrade sergeant used to say. Fuck me, the day really is breakin'. No shite. Don't let 'em mess you about, Pero. Don't let 'em mess you about. Another drop. The sun'll be on the power station any minute. We had the power, just like that, no need to fight. Yep. Into action, against the odds, black metal gods. Today it's nothin' but fuckin' poseurs. Any minute, and we'll be up shit creek again. Any minute, Ljubljana'll fuckin' well explode with light. But what the hell, you sit down in front of the telly and have a beer or two. And a couple of grappas.

But the telly can do your head in. Fuck me, the night's short, eh? and this fuckin' Formula One. And these live broadcasts, middle of the fuckin' night. Got to be really tough for that. Up at three in the mornin'. Got to have enough beers in the fridge and grappa in the cupboard. And a will of iron. Yep. Okay, if I'd gone to bed when the race finished. But who can sleep in this fuckin' heat? Anyway, the beer really helps you sweat. Somethin' to do with some enzyme for water retention. Heard that on Discovery Channel once. Important information. If only they'd had some decent planes on Discovery last night. But no, had to watch some dumb platypuses.

Hey, I didn't know these platypuses laid eggs. Or maybe they don't – fuck it, I dunno, maybe I got mixed up. My heart wasn't really in it. I'd rather have had Messerschmidts.

But yeh, for fuck's sake, who's ever seen anythin' like it – watchin' programmes on some freaky Australian creatures out of sheer misery and then... Here we go, dawn's breakin', my heroic comrades.

But they're cool animals those, whether or not they lay eggs. I'd have one like a shot, as a pet like, if I had a house with a garden and a river runnin' through it. Okay, yeh, a river, that's a bit much. A pond. Or a well, you know?

Slovenia in focus

In a selection of articles painting a broad picture of the life of a nation, Eurozine offers an often critical insight into Slovenian culture and politics. [ more ]

What the fuck am I on about, who's ever seen a platypus livin' in a well?

Or even better, what about a beaver. Beavers rule, know what I mean? Fresh college beaver. You sit there nicely by the water, like, and the beavers saunter past.

What the hell, fuckin' beavers, what are you blabberin' on about? Like you're ever gonna have a house and garden. Sellin' newspapers for Christ's sake, even this pad is a fuckin' luxury. And it's rented from some relative for a hundred marks. In Fuzine, the fuckin' ghetto, man. A garden and a well, you daft cunt, you can't even sort out this balcony.

I must be fuckin' losin' it, really.

It ain't my kind of scene anyway, it's Bertl's.

Bertl used to go on like that. Where the fuck is he? Haven't seen 'im for ages. Last time he was... what, I dunno, studyin' law or somethin'. The great defender of the poor and all. He said he'd help us out if the cops hassled us for nickin' beer crates from the student hostel. Yeh, said that some time in the first term, I think. Then there was the exams, and then the career in law was over pronto, if I remember correctly. Yeh, we were demolishin' a kitchen in the hostel and those student wankers called the cops. This cop says, employment. Bertl says, law student. The cop says, listen lad, don't fuck with me or you'll be out that fuckin' window.

Those were the days.

Yep, those were the fuckin' days. Even when there was no place to go. We had to demolish student kitchens. Now I've got my own fuckin' place, now there's no more Bertl. No sign of 'im. Fuck it.

Some of the others, too. Flint, for example. What happened to Flint? and Vasja? Fuck me, those were the days. Or Irena. Irena my own true love, thy name shallst never be taken in vain. You only hung out with the other chicks, didn't give a toss about blokes.

Should I have a stretch? Nah, what's the point?

Bertl and Tric said you were OK. Just a bit snooty. But what they liked about you, you always laid out for some booze, even if you weren't drinkin'. That made you popular on the park scene, alright. But I drank (why shouldn't I?) and had the hots for you. For your cute little tushie. And that pseudo-punk haircut. But you were cold like Celtic Frost, To Mega Therion – hey, fuck it, Irena, if only we could, now I've got my own place, a romantic evening, that'd be somethin' else. These are different times, eh? I mean, that was fifteen years ago, for suck's sake.

Day's really breakin'. There's a bus goin' by.

Been ages since I took an early mornin' bus home. When folks are on their way to work, all sullen like, and you blissful, yeh, now for bed.

Fuck it, if you didn't screw me up on purpose, that time in Piran. We dossed down in sleepin' bags up at the church. That wanker Humar kept on gettin' at you. He was bein' childish as fuck. How old was he anyway – sixteen? You must've been about fifteen. And I couldn't've been more than seventeen-eighteen, but it got on my fuckin' tits, how childish he was bein' – I mean, pushin' you, pullin' you around by the leg, like that was gonna impress a babe in a leather jacket. Until I – much to the amusement of the assembled company – stood up and fuckin' floored 'im with a kick in the mush and told 'im to bugger off to the other side of the church and leave civilized people fuckin' well alone.

It was so cool! and you looked at me – how? Not a word, full of meaning. You were fifteen, for fuck's sake! and off you went, buggered off up the steps. I stood there by the church, everybody else lyin' around.

What's that about, givin' a bloke a look like that and then doin' a bunk in the dark? Kept wonderin' for quite a while. Took one last long slug of vodka from the bottle. Hey, baby, love me like a reptile, love me like a reptile, went after you up the stairs. It was dark as an arsehole up there. You must be waitin' for me, your knight in shinin' armour, sortin' out some sixteen-year-old. Are you over by the wall, gazin' dreamily out to sea so I can come up and ask: "How come you look so sad?" Sure. Or are you hidin' round the corner, waitin' to jump out, cover my eyes with your hands and say "Guess who"? Or have you taken off your leather jacket and trainers and jeans, and you're standin' there just in that cut-off Motorhead T-shirt that looked so good on you down the pub, and you say ... "Excuse me... " No, fuck it, it was nothin' like that.

Suddenly I hear quiet laughter over in the dark, and then somethin' black starts movin' against the white wall, and I see Marta, Sandra, and all the other bitches are lyin' there in their sleepin' bags, and you with 'em, and you're lookin' at me and laughin'. Just look at those slags. Gawpin' at me like I'm some total git. And they're right. Mr Cool, who's just kicked some kid's ass, come for his reward. For his piece of fanny. You fuckin' idiot. What were you thinkin'?

Bertl. Haven't seen you for ages. Summat should fuckin' well be done about that. It should be remedied.

I'm shagged out. Should get up and go to bed. But I can't.

Oi, Bertl, do you remember? That time in that night club in Tolmin. We're standin' there and it's hot as hell, one single beer and I had sweat pourin' down my face – I just hate that. The locals said that this simply 'ad to be seen, that it was wild, unforgettable. We sat down, the booze was expensive as fuck but, thank god, the locals had some schnapps stashed under the table so you could get yerself a beer and manage somehow. And then, the artistic performance. Well, it really was wild. Up step two fat Ukrainian birds. Stilettos and stretch pants and all. Unbelievable, stretch pants, the blubber was wobblin' around like a fuckin' sea lion. And they start to kind of stagger sexily round the stage. The music total superpassionate fortissimo. I just stared, my tongue was danglin' in the schnapps, I couldn't believe it. The birds ditch the jackets, dump the T-shirts, and then, well, one of 'em starts to take off the stretch pants. But they wouldn't come – wouldn't go over the stilettos. Fuckin' shame. She was occupied for quite some time, sort of hoppin' on one leg, in rhythm.

But she was an inventive type. She was strugglin' for about a minute, then she swore in Ukrainian, fuck this, threw both 'er hands in the air and sat on the floor. She stuck 'er leg out towards 'er mate – the other one was in 'er knickers by then – and that one grabbed 'er pants and started pulling 'em off. Fuckin' unbelievable. I was pissin' myself. 'Er mate dragged 'er halfway across the stage on 'er arse before these supertight pants came off. Like a condom stretched over a fuckin' aubergine. Shite, that was somethin' else – the whole place was rollin' on the floor laughing. If the owner had a nose for business at all, he'd have offered 'em a contract for life, there and then – they were past it, so it wouldn't be for that long anyway. Let the Primorska yokels come and see what heights the art of stripping's reached in the land of the clowns.

Fuck it, my eyes are closin'.

Do you remember, Bertl?

You don't? Even the corpses of our nearest and dearest must remember that, for fuck's sake, that was the definitive striptease. Oh, right? Well, yeh, fuck it, you weren't really around ... then. Not on the scene. Not anymore.

Nah, you weren't around anymore. Neither was Flint. Or TriC for that matter. Just fuckin' kids, one hundred percent greenhorns. Course I remember 'em, I'm one of the fuckin' oldest.

Shite, there's no fuckin' water ... I forgot. Shite. They put up a notice sayin' somethin' about mains repairs, somethin' about shuttin' off the water. For a whole day. And me, what a moron. I didn't ... I haven't stocked up.

Fuck it. Who needs fuckin' water, anyway. It ain't like havin' the lift out of action. If the lift's buggered, that really is shite. About three hundred and forty-three stairs. I've got a fridge full of booze. Why don't I go and call Bertl ... And Tric ... And Flint ... And IRENA! Fuck, that'd be somethin' else.

Bertl is sittin' on the floor ... And Flint's pullin' his jeans off, over his trainers

Eat it, it's nice, I say to the guinea pig, and he fuckin' wolfs down the bits of rat poison from the spoon, eat, my children, eat and multiply. OK, we've taken care of this one, I shake off the remains of the white powder from my hands, put the spoon on the table, and the guinea pig looks around carefully, wonderin' if he should do a bunk right away or piss on the couch first and then consider further action. Guinea pigs are great couch-pissers – it's a habit they don't lose, even when they master certain tricks – it gives 'em some kind of charm, gives 'em character. I just watch 'im, but as I watch 'im and his unsuspectin' glances around, I can't help goin' soft all of a sudden, I'm startin' to feel sorry I gave 'im rat poison to eat, there's a moment when I feel pressure in my stomach and I'm sorry, I'd like to undo it somehow, if I could – I dunno, can you get a guinea pig to throw up, get the poison out? No, shite, it's started to act strange, looks around with an expression of surprise now, looks at me suspiciously, his feeder, his provider; he listens to his insides, there's poison in there, works on the nerves, he suddenly twists, hops, hops again, high, real fuckin' high, higher than when he was runnin' around the livin' room with me on his tail, chasin' 'im on all fours to tickle his back.

"Will you be finished soon?" ask Janina and Mirsad with interest. They're fully dressed and standin' at the door with suitcases and train tickets in their hands, they're ready. Hang on a sec, I'll be right there, and I get back to work. I'm squeezin' Irena's throat and I slam 'er head against the wooden floor a couple of times. She looks drowsy, she doesn't look as if my efforts are doin' 'er much harm, even when I put all my strength into it, I'm squeezin' 'er throat so that my hands hurt, at the same time bangin' the back of 'er neck against the floor. She looks dizzy. She obviously has no idea what's goin' on around 'er and keeps askin' what this is all about.

"Pero, no, you're hurting me," she says without openin' 'er eyes, a thin line of blood slowly runnin' from the corner of 'er mouth. I stare at it impatiently, faster, I say, spill over, spurt blood, die, why the fuck are you askin' me all this, "Why are you doing this to me, Pero? I just want to sleep." By every logic she should have a brain haemorrhage by now, I must've broken the base of 'er skull, just how fuckin' long can all this take? "Cut it out, Pero, I'm going to get angry." I can feel two pairs of eyes on the back of my neck, Janina and Mirsad are waitin' for me, the fuckin' train leaves in twenty minutes, and Irena refuses to show any signs of the nausea typical of brain haemorrhage, nausea that inevitably leads directly to death, demise, el morte. And then at last! She opens 'er mouth slightly, it's bright red, like with blood, I can see somethin' black in there. I shove two fingers in and grab whatever it is, pull it out.

There's a small black lighter between my fingers. That's all.

Sweat is pourin' down my forehead, my throat's tight, "Don't you ever fuckin' mean to die?" I'd like to shout, and I keep bangin' 'er head against the floor and the table leg, I'm embarrassed in front of the other two, embarrassed in front of Irena who just doesn't get what I'm doin' to 'er and why I don't leave 'er alone and let 'er sleep. Finally I just let go of 'er so she slumps on the edge of the rug and curls up like a foetus, puts 'er hands under 'er left cheek, a shattered expression on 'er face, I get up and stare at 'er with horror, I feel a few drops of 'er blood on my chin.

"Maybe it'd be better in hexameter," I say, fuck knows why I say it, am I a total fuckin' moron, what am I babblin' on about here? and I wipe my face with my sleeve and stare at the two at the door, they look at me contemptuous like, Mirsad's lightin' a fag, Janina puts down 'er bag and fixes 'er black nylon tights, twisted below the knee, so that 'er long, straight black hair waves in the air.

"Hey, my head hurts," says Irena down on the floor. I can hear a bird singin' outside. Fuck me, when am I ever gonna get things sorted? A nightingale, a fuckin' nightingale, warblin' away, and everythin'.

The Snowden leaks and the ensuing NSA scandal made the whole world debate privacy and data protection. Now the discussion has entered a new phase - and it's all about policy. A focal point on the politics of privacy: claiming a European value. [more]

The fate of migrants attempting to enter Fortress Europe has triggered a new European debate on laws, borders and human rights. A focal point featuring reportage alongside articles on policy and memory. With contributions by Fabrizio Gatti, Seyla Benhabib and Alessandro Leogrande. [more]

In the two decades after the end of the Cold War, intellectual interaction between Russia and Europe has intensified. It has not, however, prompted a common conversation. The focal point "Russia in global dialogue" seeks to fuel debate on democracy, society and the legacy of empire. [more]

Ten years after the Orange Revolution, Ukraine is in the throes of yet another major struggle. Eurozine provides commentary on events as they unfold and further articles from the archive providing background to the situation in today's Ukraine. [more]

At a time when the global pull of democracy has never been stronger, the crisis of democracy has become acute. Eurozine has collected articles that make the problems of democracy so tangible that one starts to wonder if it has a future at all, as well as those that return to the very basis of the principle of democracy. [more]

Brought on by the global economic recession, the eurocrisis has been exacerbated by serious faults built into the monetary union. Contributors discuss whether the EU is not only broke, but also broken -- and if so, whether Europe's leaders are up to the task of fixing it. [more]

In recent years, Hungary has been a constant concern for anyone interested in European politics. We have collected articles published in Eurozine on recent developments in Hungary and broader issues relating to Hungarian politics, history and culture. [more]

The public sphere is not something given; it is made - over and over again. But which actors are involved and what roles do they play? Is there a difference between an intellectual and an expert? And in which media or public space does the debate take place? [more]

Harbour cities develop distinct modes of being that not only reflect different cultural traditions and political and social self-conceptions, but also contain economic potential and communicate how they see themselves as part of the larger structure that is "Europe". [more]

Broadening the question of a common European narrative beyond the East-West divide. How are contested interpretations of historical and recent events activated in the present, uniting and dividing European societies? [more]

Media change is about more than just the "newspaper crisis" and the iPad: property law, privacy, free speech and the functioning of the public sphere are all affected. On a field experiencing profound and constant transformation. [more]

Despite the Internet's growing significance as vehicle of freedom of expression, public service broadcasting and the press will remain for some time the visible face of the watchdog on power. In western Europe, the traditional media need to prove they are still capable of performing this role. [more]

Massimo Sestini's aerial shot of a boat containing at least 500 people attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea, included in the current exhibition in the Eurozine Gallery, has been named one of the top ten photos of 2014 by TIME magazine. [more]

This summer, Time to Talk partner Free Word, London hosted a debate on the role that literature houses play in preserving freedom of expression both in Europe and globally. Should everyone get a place on the podium? Also those representing the political extremes? [more]

On 10 April, De Balie and the ECF jointly organized a public debate in Amsterdam entitled "In the EU we (mis)trust: On the road to the EU elections". Some of the questions raised: Which challenges does Europe face today? Which strategic choices need to be made? [more]

What do young Brits think about state surveillance, privacy and the choices we all make about sharing our personal data online? Is privacy achievable in lives lived so much online and what measures can, and do, we undertake to protect our information? [more]

Depo looks at Turkey's security politics, taking in their origin, consolidation and present development: how much do people trust their institutions and what impact do these levels of trust have upon how confident people in Turkey feel in their everyday lives? [more]

As the culture and institutions of the Gutenberg Galaxy wane, Felix Stalder looks to commons, assemblies, swarms and weak networks as a basis for remaking society in a more inclusive and diverse way. The aim being to expand autonomy and solidarity at the same time. [more]

Earlier civil disobedients hinted at our increasingly global condition. Snowden takes it as a given. But, writes William E. Scheuerman, in lieu of an independent global legal system in which Snowden could defend his legal claims, the Obama administration should treat him with clemency. [more]

Freedom has been the most important motif of accounts of human history since the Enlightenment. Yet, only with the planetary crisis of climate change is an awareness now emerging of the geological agency human beings gained through processes linked to their acquisition of freedom. [more]

Commemorative causality, the confusion between present resonance and past power, denies history its proper subject, writes Timothy Snyder. What is easiest to represent becomes what it is easiest to argue and, in lieu of serious explanations, only emotional reflexes remain. [more]

Disillusionment with democracy founded on mistrust of business and political elites has prompted a popular obsession with transparency. But the management of mistrust cannot remedy voters' loss of power and may spell the end for democratic reform. [more]

Social segregation, cultural appropriation: the six-hundred-year history of the European Roma, as recorded in literature and art, represents the underside of the European subject's self-invention as agent of civilizing progress in the world, writes Klaus-Michael Bogdal. [more]

Our language is our literary destiny, writes Olga Tokarczuk. And "minority" languages provide a special kind of sanctuary too, inaccessible to the rest of the world. But, there again, language is at its most powerful when it reaches beyond itself and starts to create an alternative world. [more]

The recent publication of the private diary of Witold Gombrowicz provides unparalleled insight into the life of one of Poland's great twentieth-century novelists and dramatists. But this is not literature. Instead: here he is, completely naked. [more]

He pointed a way for American fiction out of the doldrums of postmodernism, writes George Blecher. For a culture troubled by the corrosive commercial media and closed-end systems underpinned by technology, David Foster Wallace's influence remains a force to be reckoned with. [more]

It is high time to lift the aesthetic state of emergency that has surrounded witness literature for so long, writes Steve Sem-Sandberg. It is not important who writes, nor even what their motives are. What counts is the "literary efficiency". [more]

Nationalism in Belgium might be different from nationalism in Ukraine, but if we want to understand the current European crisis and how to overcome it we need to take both into account. The debate series "Europe talks to Europe" is an attempt to turn European intellectual debate into a two-way street. [more]

Democratic deficit, enlargement fatigue and ever more rescue funds: is there still a future for a common Europe? Therese Kaufmann, Ivan Krastev, Claus Offe, Sonja Puntscher-Riekmann, Martin M. Simecka diagnose causes for the current malaise of the EU. [more]

Perceived loss of sovereignty and rising hostility towards migrants are behind the nationalist revival in many EU member states. Yet in the countries of the former USSR, nationalism is associated with democratization. Andriy Shevchenko and David Van Reybrouck discuss whether talking about contemporary nationalism in East and West in the same terms is possible at all. [more]

The surge in "anti-politics" throughout Europe coincides with media marketization and the rise of digital technologies. Ivaylo Ditchev and Judith Vidal-Hall analyse media change and the loss of trust in political institutions. What happens to democracy when political decision-making relies increasingly on the opinion poll? [more]

Multiculturalism, the default strategy in western Europe for managing cultural diversity, is increasingly under attack from both Right and Left. If multiculturalism has reached its limits, what are the alternatives that can help manage diversity, both in the East and in the West? Kenan Malik and Fero Sebej in debate. [more]

While an historical-materialist approach to both culture and society has strong critical potential in western Europe, many eastern European intellectuals regard it sceptically. Jiri Pehe and Benedict Seymour ask whether Marxism - or even leftist politics - means one thing in the West and another in the East. [more]

The aggressive monetary policies of western financial institutions were a major factor for the crisis of eastern economies after the speculative bubble burst in 2008. Robert Misik and Daniel Daianu debate the ethical and political implications of western investment in eastern Europe and the globalized economy as a whole. [more]

In many European countries, a nationally framed approach to history clashes with those of neighbouring states. Danuta Glondys and Arne Ruth discuss the role of intellectuals in disputes over contested history and ask whether cross-border journalism can build an element of real universality into the European project. [more]

Martin M. Simecka and Laszlo Rajk, both sons of well-known persecuted communists, discuss the still unanswered questions surrounding the involvement of their fathers' generation in post-war communism, and the failings of today's debate about the past in the former communist countries. [more]

Eurozine emerged from an informal network dating back to 1983. Since then, European cultural magazines have met annually in European cities to exchange ideas and experiences. Around 100 journals from almost every European country are now regularly involved in these meetings.

Under the heading "Making a difference. Opinion, debate and activism in the public sphere", the 2013 Eurozine conference in Oslo focused on cultural and intellectual debate and the production of the public sphere. [more]

Harbour cities as places of movement, of immigration and emigration, inclusion and exclusion, develop distinct modes of being that communicate how they see themselves as part of the structure that is "Europe". The 2012 Eurozine conference explored how European societies deal variously with the cultural legacy of the "harbour city".[ more ]

The Eurozine conference on "Changing Media - Media in Change" from 13-16 May 2011 brought fresh insights to debates on the future of journalism, intellectual property and free speech, and made one thing very clear: independent cultural journals are where reflexion and criticality combine with changing media strategies.[ more ]